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Snowboard Movies
09-10 Burton The B Review
02 years ago
by User Review
in Snowboard Movies
The movie is not so bad…but comparing to last year's "It's allways snowing somewhere", this "B Movie" one is a child play.
Poor focus on Burton riders. There are a lot of Burton riders that could have focus on this movie but they were left out.
I honestly don't understand how 2009 was an excellent winter with a lot of conditions to make a more interesting content movie like we've seen in Neverland, and Burton didn't take advantage of that.
It was a disappointment, almost the same disappointment when I saw the design of the boards for 2009/2010.
09-10 Forum Forever Review
02 years ago
by Chris
in Snowboard Movies
Forum Forever is one of the year's better snowboard videos. It's a bit heavy on the urban jibbing and light on everything else, but is still creative and entertaining, and there are some mind-blowing shots.
Forum Forever starts out with a B&W intro montage that pops into bright color. Pat Moore takes the opener, it's a pretty metal part with some really creative wallrides and ricochet drops. Jake Welch rocks a sweet street section, followed up by the Youngbloods doing more of the same. Jake Blauvelt has a super fun part that shows off his ability to ride just about anything. Joni Malmi, Peter Line, and Stevie Bell share a song with some great shots. Eddie Wall and Nic Sauve follow with two solid parts full of street jib bangers. John Jackson rips some sick powder lines and throws some ridiculous double-corks and rodeos. The credit roll is a fun little mix of footage, and wraps up the film nicely.
The cinematography and editing are great, with creative camera angles that result in great looking footage. There are some really well done slow-motion shots where the footage slows almost to a stop, and then speeds back up. Overall it definitely has the feel of a Forum video, and does justice to The Resistance, and True Life.
Music is so-so, most of the songs are pretty good, but mixed together they don't work as well. Pretty packed extras, including a wreck section, fun ads for the Tweaker boot, Chilly Dog rocker, and Shaka binding, and a behind-the-scenes feature.
09-10 Sandbox Shine On Review
02 years ago
by Chris
in Snowboard Movies
Shine On lacks the overall wow factor of last year’s Sandbox film, but is still one of the better films for 2010.
The video starts off with a gorgeous intro, highlighting the riders and showcasing a brutal bail section and some big bangers.
Mikey Pederson kicks it off, big jumps, fancy dog tricks, and some fun jibs. Nash Lejeunesse has a solid part, mixing street with big mountain riding and pillow lines, and a sick tree jib. Kevin Griffin has a fun and really creative part, featuring a massive jump at Whistler with the new Peak to Peak tram in the background. Geoff Brown is up next, and rocking a Sandbox helmet in some of the shots. Steve Cartwright puts down another memorable Sandbox part, he's still killin' it. Ryan Tiene charges through Japan and then has some gorgeous footage in Canada. Dwayne Wiebe throws down some skate-influenced street, and then kills the Whistler jump. Jody Wachniak slays everything he touches, although he gets a little bloody doing it. Brendan Keenan has some gorgeous shots riding along a glacial wall, and going huge in the backcountry. Jake Kuzyk has the final part, and the kid nails it (on a K2 WWW too). Closing montage winds everything down with a montage of behind the scenes type footage.
Cinematography is outstanding as usual. Not sure what the Canadian filmers are drinking, but the shots from the last couple of films are exceptional. It's all edited together beautifully, and the whole film just flows.
There's a ton of extras, plenty of additional footage to cruise. Don't miss "Blue Balloon" by the guys that did "Arbitrarily Pear" last year.
09-10 Absinthe Films Neverland Review
02 years ago
by Chris
in Snowboard Movies
This is one of those videos that proves content isn’t everything; even if you have a sick cast and great snow, the video can still turn out badly. Absinthe's signature quality is absent in this release, and while there's plenty to like in the 30 minute film, as an overall package it just didn't do it for me.
I always look forward to Absinthe films, as they’re usually one of the more artistic videos. Neverland is a little disappointing from that angle, there’s a lot of really low-quality video, choppy slow-mo, poor white-balance, and washed out footage.
The video has a long, fun opening part with Nicolas Muller playing in deep, fluffy snow. Kevin Pearce joins him for some of it; rad to see him out of the pipe and just having fun in the powder. Romain and DCP do the big-mountain thing, ride some gnarly lines and set off a few avalanches. Annie shreds some crazy lines, and has one of the video’s better parts. TRice has a part where he shows of his magically cat-like skills and slays a bunch of backcountry cheese wedges, but even his section suffers from the poor filming quality.
The film’s music is awful, and the editing is just so-so.
09-10 Burton The B Review
02 years ago
by Chris
in Snowboard Movies
Coming from the biggest company in snowboarding, this video is somewhat disappointing. It’s not bad, just average, but compared to last winter’s "It’s Always Snowing Somewhere," it’s a pretty token offering.
Burton has an all-star team and every resource imaginable available, so there’s really no excuse for The B to be so average. Last year’s "It’s Always Snowing Somewhere" was among the better videos, so I’m pretty confused by the drastic turn in mediocrity.
The content is of course good, but even with the star power of Jeremy Jones, Jussi Oksanen, Nicolas Müller, Frederik Kalbermatten and Shaun White, there is very little that wows. Jeremy Jones’ shuvits are pretty cool once or twice. And Shaun’s Project X footage is of course amazing, but the footage on the Project X site is way better.
In my opinion, the soundtrack is the worst aspect of the film. It’s an eclectic mix of country, jazz, hard rock, and other music that doesn’t fit, making a slow, boring movie, even harder to watch.
The video is worth watching, if only for the giant B feature, but otherwise it isn’t very memorable. With almost 100 videos on the market this year, The B didn’t sell me on it’s $30 shelf price.
09-10 Standard Films Black Winter Review
02 years ago
by Chris
in Snowboard Movies
Black Winter was one of this year's films I was most excited to see, entirely based on the trailer. The intro starts out with what I would describe as a classic Standard Films opening, harkening back to the early TB films; a series of mountains, cityscapes, and time-elapse weather patterns, which gives way to a montage of the rider sections. It has that feel that tells you a classic Standard Films video is coming.
Standard's roll in the history of the snowboard video is undisputed, but over the last few years it has seemed like they had lost some of their footing. My impression has been that they've had a hard time keeping up with the deluge of new films coming out every year, and that in an attempt to stay on top have tried some different filming styles and concepts that haven't really worked out very well. Black Winter is the first Standard Films video in a long time that's felt like a classic Standard Films video.
I usually just mention the really notable sections from a movie; in the case of Black Winter that's almost every part; it never really lets up. From the solid start with Torstein through the credit roll, I was fully immersed.
Torstein Horgmo has the opener, and absolutely slays it. For many viewers this will be the first time they see Torstien's riding outside of the X-Games, and he doesn't disappoint. From backcountry jumps to rails to park tables, he rides it all, and comes away with a section that has my vote for best video part of the year. Back-to-back with Torstein is another scanner, Andreas Wiig. Xavier Delerue's section includes footage from the 09 Freeride World Tour, and is a death-defying mix of awesome and insane, reminiscent of some of Jeremy Jones' big mountain parts from previous years; especially when he's riding the fine line between safety and his sluff-started avalanche. Jason Dubois part goes to the other end of the spectrum, with a part full of mostly urban and street footage, including some great wall-rides. Andrew Geeves, who we've previously seen in Sandbox films, shares a song with Leanne Pelosi. Mark Landvik, who you probably remember from That's It That's All, has a banger freeride part that really showcases his riding style; it's a fun part with a good mix of heli and helmet-cam footage. Chas Guldemond follows up with another killer part.
The music is a great mix and fits well throughout Black Winter. Editing is artful without being over-done, cuts are well timed, and the movie flows well.
Basically this movie rocks, and is definitely in the top 5 for 2009/10.
09-10 Alterna Action Elektro Review
02 years ago
by Chris
in Snowboard Movies
Elektro is heavy on the blue-bird powder cheese-wedge shots, and while it's a great collection of video footage, you may find yourself somewhat bored by the formulaic presentation.
Elektro starts out with a loud, colorful, fast-paced intro, highlighting the riders in sequence. It's one of the funner intros I've seen so far this year, and is a great launch to the video. Unfortunately, the movie itself suffers from a level of generic footage. Winter 2009 provided numerous blue-sky powder days to film on, and Elektro overdoes it on one shot after another of deep snow and blue skies. There are a few places where things get mixed up a bit more, but the majority of the film does little to distinguish itself from other films.
That's not to say it's a bad video, but I did find it repetitious, and almost tedious, because of how non-descript it is. Alterna's previous films have highlighted great terrain, epic snow, and excellent riders, while keeping things fun and entertaining, Elektro falls short of that standard.
All of the riders in Elektro are rock solid talent, and throw down some great tricks in epic conditions. Matt Beardmore has the opener, and entertains with a part full of big backcountry booters, blue skies, and deep snow. He's followed by solid segments from Eero Niemela, and then Gaetan Chanut. Matt Belzile starts out his part with some sweet helmet cam footage. Tadej has one of the stand-out parts, with some fun lines and creative filming, as does Craig Beaulieu's section. I think Vera Jansen may be the first girl to film with the Alterna crew, unfortunately her part suffers from some of the female video part clichés.
The editing has Alterna's signature look and feel; smooth, well-timed cuts that match the riders' styles well. The soundtrack is good, for the most part electronic with good beats, and is well mixed to the video, but doesn't stand out as anything amazing. The extras are pretty bare, but do check out "The Staff: A Ski Bum Musical" for a quick laugh.
09-10 Alterna Action Elektro Review
02 years ago
by Maggie
in Snowboard Movies
Elektro is colorful, beautifully done, and a well-rounded snowboard movie, but it blends in too much withing the greater snowboard film realm.
Elektro consists of the things you should expect from current snowboard films if you have watched even half a dozen. It is heavy on the blue sky, mountains, powder, massive backcountry booters, big avalanches, huge wrecks, and my favorite, a travel section which in this video is primarily shot in Slovenia. All of the footage is really high quality, the editing is stellar (especially Craig Beaulieu’s part which is really fast paced and mixes it up a bit), and it is relatively consistent in theme-appropriate music (though, not sure about how Benji Ritchie’s hip-hop bit fits). Plus, it is full of wicked awesome neon. I actually came away from the movie more excited about the gear in this year’s product lines than anything else. It’s all loud plaids, neons, and craziness, so put on sunglasses!
Alterna Action's films have set a high bar over the years in terms of clean shots and great editing. Elektro continues this trend, and is a great film, but it seems to fall somewhat short by those very standards Alterna has helped set. It is short but feels long – let me explain. Having a short snowboard movie, with pretty generic extras, is not a crime in and of itself. The 34 minutes of its entirety is a beautiful product in videography and editing, but it begins to feel cyclical. None of the spins, grabs, or riding is small-scale; it is all really really good. But the majority of the rider parts are so balanced in content and general similarity, excluding the interlude in Slovenia, that it feels like a loop and nothing really stands out. For Alterna Action it is very formulaic. Basically rider in neon hits big back country kicker on a gorgeous day. . . and repeat. Again, it is weird, how it still makes for a GREAT movie, and I really like the head-cam shots, I just wanted something to stand out a little bit more. Moments I liked best include the near-opening shot of Matt Beardmore’s 360 and 540 wallride spins on a dam, Craig Beaulieu’s part has a bit more diversity to it, and the dual Vince/ JF Fortin section. But again, each section was hard to weigh against the one before or after itself.
So, would I recommend it? Yes, because anyone who hasn’t seen a snowboard movie will love it, riders will be greatly inspired by it, and there is nothing outright bad to say about it. But, put against the host of other movies that are out there (including some stand-out Alterna Action videos from prior years), I don't think makes a case for itself.